BIAS closed

[FMiguelez]

I suspect, frankly, it was the sustained recession that is partly to blame. Individuals and businesses can only hang on so long.

And if you add piracy to the recession...

[mhschmieder]

Here's a good article that just appeared a short while ago today, analyzing the playing field in the wake of BIAS closing shop:

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2012/06/b ... ernatives/

I'm in the process of reading that article in more depth as I write this. I'm thrown off by this announcement and am fearful that Peak cannot be depended on to work as I move forward with OS updates etc., so am focusing today on the alternatives.

There's also some talk of going open source and maintaining it amongst the users, but that discussion so far is relegated to the beta testers group (of which I have been a part for several years) and we have not yet had contact with anyone in a position to grant permission.

[David Polich]

That's a really good article, very informative. I didn't even know about
Twisted Wave, and I forgot about Amadeus. Wave Editor looks good but unfortunately it requires Lion, so that's a no-go for me. Gonna try out
Twisted Wave and Amadeus II. The main thing I will miss from Peak is the
"Tile" feature...hoping to find that in these other editors.

[twistedtom]

I like Sound Soap, now what? Waves has a noise plug in right? What other good noise plug ins are there?

[dix]

I like Sound Soap, now what? Waves has a noise plug in right? What other good noise plug ins are there?

Izotope RX is awesome: http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/rx/

[Phil O]

+1 on iZotope RX. I've done some amazing stuff with it that I didn't think could be done. It surprises me on a regular basis.

Phil

[sberkley]

Greetings:

We understand that many people are surprised at the closing of BIAS and have questions as to the reason why. Please understand that we are not at liberty to discuss those reasons in detail since they concern matters of individual privacy. However, the conduct of certain employees resulted in disruptive interpersonal relationships which damaged morale and interfered with high functioning at a time when market pressures required that the company perform at an optimum level.
 
Despite the high quality of our products and team, the disruption contributed to a lack of sales and marketing effectiveness that was fatal to the company. Our products remain among the best in the industry, and we are exploring various avenues that we hope will result in our customers still receiving the benefit of the products they have valued in the past.  We appreciate your past patronage as well as your patience and support as we move through this difficult period.

Steve Berkley
CEO and President, BIAS Inc.
Member, Marin Audio Technology LLC

[mhschmieder]

Yikes, Steve, that's about the worst reason possible, so I feel for you. I've been in that situation but for similar privacy reasons cannot go into detail on a public forum. PM me if you'd like to talk about this off-line or by phone, as we are close by and there are also people at my company who would like to see what we can do to help lessen the impact of what happened.

[Dan Worley]

Wave Editor looks good but unfortunately it requires Lion, so that's a no-go for me.

I use Wave Editor with Snow Leopard.

Technical Specifications for Wave Editor copied from the Audiofile Engineering Site:

Hardware
Mac computer with an Intel processor
1 GB of RAM (we recommend 2 GB or more)
Display with 1024-by-768 resolution highly recommended
A hard disk with 1 GB or more free space
Software
Mac OS X 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) or 10.7 (Lion)
QuickTime 7.2 or later highly recommended

[nk_e]

Well, despite my frustrations, I wouldn't wish that on anybody. Sorry to hear it. Hope it works out for you ultimately.

Cheers

[Electricbacfac]

I'm not surprised and appreciate how licensed users are going to be upset by this.

I thought they where asking far too much for the product and considered buying it but found Wavelab on the PC to be my best solution, even though I am Mac based.

I also found Sound Soap to be poor.
In truth I don't know many people who were willing to part with the sort of money Bias where asking.

We could really do with a rocksolid editor for Mac more than ever.

[Shooshie]

Soundsoap wasn't one of my favorite plugins, but it did a fair job of removing noise. There was a specific order you had to follow to get the best results, and once I learned that it did a very good job for me. For some time now I've been using Waves noise reducing plugins. I have to say that they are hard to beat. I think Bias would have done well to offer the full version of Soundsoap for a dramatically reduced price, and it would probably have become one of those things that everyone has, providing them with a decent income stream. But I'm sure they had reasons for the way they marketed their products. Sorry to see them close up shop.


Shooshie

[mhschmieder]

Don't forget, things went on sale frequently, so the "real" prices weren't really all that high...

[mikehalloran]

I stopped using them a while back. Their adherence to Mac OS standards wasn't very tight - you'd upgrade the OS and nothing worked anymore. I got tired of paying regular upgrade fees of $500-800 just to keep things working. Other companies offered products that worked for me with less hassle and less cost.

[Steve Steele]

This is a sad day. Sorry to hear it Steve. I've been a licensed user since the mid 90s. I have version 6.0.2 from 2010 running on Lion just fine. Everything works and it's as stable as it gets. Maybe that's why I didn't pay for an upgrade to Peak 7. Not eager to switch to a new program. At least there are some nice options available.

I wish you guys the best.

I'm looking at Amadeus Pro II, Wave Editor, and DSP-Quattro. Would love to try Adobe Audition, but ain't paying $350 for it (but then again I might).